Politics, law, social justice, music, baseball and miscellany, and not necessarily in that order.

Tuesday, September 4, 2012

Post Mortem

Almost two years ago I created this blog in order to use the parts of my brain that weren't consumed by my day job as a death penalty lawyer and to interact with the larger community on what I deeply care about, particularly, as the subhead says, "politics, law, social justice, music and baseball."

Fair and Unbalanced became a daily ritual for me, almost a spiritual practice. I read the paper (i.e., the New York Times) and the essential blogs, which would either inspire me to write something or to cross-post from the impressive group of bloggers who generously allowed me to share their work. I found myself deeply engaged in the issues of the day and was gratified to discover that there were friends out there -- old, new and cyber -- who seemed to care what I had to offer. (The stats show I've posted over 1500 pieces with close to 200,000 hits.)

Careful readers will have noticed I took my first extended break from blogging in July, when I went on a family vacation overseas. What started as a brief hiatus, as it turns out, will be a more protracted one.

After 23-plus years of doing death penalty work, I have become so frustrated with the dysfunctional, broken process that, to paraphrase Justice Blackmun, I decided to no longer "tinker with the machinery of death." (Hopefully, I am just slightly ahead of the curve.) I will be taking my legal career in a different direction about which I am very excited. What this means, however, is that I will need those parts of my brain previously occupied with blogging for this new endeavor.

So, thank you all for the staunch
support, insightful comments and constructive feedback. This has been an incredibly rewarding experience for me, and hopefully an enjoyable one for you. But, as the inimitable Groucho Marx put it, "I must be going . . . ."
,

we started around the same time, those 23 years ago. you have done wonderful and dedicated work for our guys over those many years. best to you in your new endeavors.

i saw things last night that i never thought i'd see: a DA arguing for prop. 34, then embracing bryan stevenson and giving him his card; bryan and jeanne woodford huddled in conversation. perhaps i will be out of the work soon, too.